dett, the letter was from Colonel Campbell, signifying that, in consequence of an application made to the English government, by Mâalem Homsy, one of Lady Hester Stanhope's creditors, an order had come from Lord Palmerston to stop her pension, unless the debt was paid.
It might have been supposed that the double disappointment of not hearing from Sir Francis Burdett and of receiving such a missive from Colonel Campbell would have considerably increased her anger: but, on the contrary, she grew apparently quite calm, gently placed the letter on the bed, and read the contents:—
Colonel P. Campbell, Her Majesty's Consul-general for Egypt and Syria, to Lady Hester Stanhope.
- Cairo, Jan. 10, 1838.
- Madam,
I trust that your ladyship will believe my sincerity, when I assure you with how much reluctance and pain it is that I feel myself again[1] imperatively
- ↑ At the word "again," Lady Hester made the following remarks:—"He never addressed me on the subject, neither has any one else. Nearly two years ago, there was a report in the Bazar that my debts had been spoken of to the King; that my pension was to be seized; that I was to be put under consular jurisdiction; and a set of extravagant things that nobody ever heard the like; and certainly those who had ventured to charge themselves with such a message would have found that I was a cousin of Lord Camelford's. "Another version was, that the King talked very good sense upon the subject, and had taken my part, and had been much surprised that I had been so neglected by my family, to whom he said some sharp and unpleasant things. There the matter rested, and I heard no more of it, until Colonel Campbell's letter."
